Paul Savery, the Indy’s resident English soccer fanatic, seems more concerned with British self-destruction than with the U.S., in typical English fashion. In case you haven’t had it drilled into your skulls by ESPN as of yet, the match kicks of at 2:30 p.m.
After England performances against Mexico and Japan I have been instructing myself not to panic! For god’s sake don’t panic! The big question for the upcoming U.S. match is whether England will play (a) dismally (b) pitifully or (c) pathetically.
Not so fast! Perhaps Fabio Capello is playing his cards with great cunning. He has lulled future opponents into a false sense of security. We pretend we are rubbish then everyone thinks we are rubbish and lowers their guard — but what if we aren’t pretending!
Capello’s new strategy of winning games without English players scoring any of the goals is a high stakes approach. I hope Mr. Own Goal. has a good game for the American side. If we are not careful England’s current mantra “We can play much better” will change to “We’ll play much better in 2014.”
The English Premier League season has been a long and gruelling one. The England squad already had a bruised and battered look before Rio Ferdinand, England’s captain, bit the dust during a training session in South Africa. There is not much of a bright side to this disaster except that it allows Tottenham to contribute yet another player to the squad in the person of Michael Dawson.
Capello might need to change his restrictions on WAG visits to the players in Royal Bafokeng camp from once a week to none a week; the players looked shagged out before they reached South Africa. The WAGs figure if England crashes out of the World Cup in the early stages there’ll be more time for them to lounge on the beaches of Cape Town with their rich footballer.
My confidence has not been strengthened by Capello’s recent declaration to maintain Lampard as England’s designated penalty-missser. You’d of thought we could find some one in England who is capable of putting the bloody ball passed a goalie from the penalty spot. It’s not like our problem with penalties has
suddenly crept up on us!
